Washing Up
by seca
Summary: Gokudera tries to learn how to do dishes with Yamamoto as his teacher and finds the results disastrous for his mind. Gokudera x Yamamoto
1. Washing Up

Title: Washing Up

Characters: Gokudera x Yamamoto, slight Gokudera -Tsuna

Word Count: 1,660

Rating: PG

Summary: Gokudera tries to learn how to do dishes with Yamamoto as his teacher and finds the results disastrous for his mind.

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Gokudera wondered if one had to have some kind of Midas touch to wash dishes without breaking them. If you scrubbed too lightly it wouldn't clean but if you scrubbed too hard the plate would break. And despite Yamamoto's encouraging words, plastic plates were just as easy to break as the ceramic ones were. 

The silver haired teen sent a glare Yamamoto's way as the taller teen was busy bringing ingredients out of the kitchen and to the counter in the main part of the sushi restaurant. Of course the big oaf didn't even notice Gokudera's gaze on him and kept moving along while he hummed a tuneless song. There was no way he was going to let the baseball freak win more favor with the Tenth because he just happened to be able to do household chores and Gokudera couldn't.

The Italian youth wondered how a dope like Yamamoto could be so good at washing dishes when it was such a delicate task even he couldn't master. There had to be some trick to it that the other boy didn't show him in the demonstration he gave him when Gokudera first began practicing on the plastic dishes. Not wanting to break anymore plates until he discovered the secret technique, as he was beginning to run out of plates _to_ break, Gokudera stared menacingly at the pile of whole dishes as if warning them not to dare to break on him as well. 

"You have to touch the dishes if you want to wash them," Yamamoto offered, when he returned to the kitchen after taking the last of the food out to his father. The comment only earned a glare in the taller boy's direction and a slight growl. Whether he didn't notice the animosity aimed in his direction or didn't care Yamamoto just gave his classmate a friendly smile as he walked over to the other boy while saying, "Here, let me try something to help you out."

Without waiting for Gokudera's response, Yamamoto lined himself up behind the shorter youth then placed his arms and hands over the Italian's. "Wha-what are you doing!" Gokudera exclaimed, shocked at the sudden lack of personal space.

"It's a teaching technique I saw on a TV show once," Yamamoto answered, talking softly into Gokudera's ear, "It worked really well in the show and it's really simple. All I'll do is guide you through all the steps like this so you're doing exactly what I'm doing."

The silver haired teen didn't even realize he was holding his breath until after Yamamoto stopped talking and it was his turn to speak. As he let his breath out he also became aware that his cheeks were feeling unusually warm so he didn't dare turn around in case really he was blushing like he thought he was. "It sounds stupid," is all he could grumble out after a seemingly endless moment of silence, which Gokudera tried to figure out why he hadn't pushed the other boy away yet.

Even though he couldn't see the other boy, Gokudera swore he could still feel the smile on the cheerful idiot's face as Yamamoto assured him, "Well it couldn't hurt to try as just telling you doesn't seem to work. It shouldn't take very long either, just for the first couple of dishes and then you can probably be able to go solo."

As much as he hated to admit it, the oaf had a point and it wasn't like there was anyone watching him make a fool out of himself. "Fine, whatever, "Gokudera finally said, trying not to think about how warm the taller teen's body felt against his own.

"Okay," the other boy chimed cheerfully, "let's get started then." Yamamoto entwined his fingers through Gokudera's as he moved the Italian boy's arms and hands with his own. Gokudera tried not to think about the blush now burning on his face and most likely on his ears and neck that the action caused and concentrated on picking up a plate and not dropping it as Yamamoto moved their hands back to the sink to dip the dish in the soapy water. "Alright now, we take the sponge and squeeze it gently in our hands as the other hand holds the plate so it doesn't slip away," Yamamoto explained softly breaking the silence, "It's really not that different than washing yourself when you clean off before soaking in the bath."

"Who washes themselves before taking a bath?" Gokudera wondered out loud to no one in particular. He's surprised when the other boy answers, "But if you don't wash beforehand then you dirty all the water up for everyone else who uses the bath after you."

"You share baths?"

"Everyone does. Well I guess unless they're rich like you, then you could probably afford to drain it every time, hunh?"

Gokudera can't help but feel embarrassed not to know this bit of information. If everyone in Japan bathed like that it meant the Tenth did as well and Gokudera would have looked like an idiot if he tried to correct the Tenth's bathing habits. Not that he would be around while the Tenth was bathing, or at least not on purpose but the occasion could always possible arise at some point in the future.

"If you'd like you could take a bath here to try it out," Yamamoto offered breaking the other teen's train of thought, "we could even help scrub each other's backs."

While Gokudera's earlier thoughts were derailed they weren't completely off track when Yamamoto made his offer and the picture that Gokudera swore he hadn't been really thinking about shifts to have himself and Yamamoto in a tub together. The thought overloaded his brain as it fails to figure out if it was something it wanted to store away for later or purge on the spot. The fact he couldn't figure that out disturbed the Italian youth, as the Japanese boy was his rival which should not be confused with his object of affection. Though the image of sharing a bath with said rival wouldn't go away as much as he willed his mind to just get rid of it. The fact that he could still feel the taller boy's body against his so well was not helping things either as he tried to steer his mind to other less questionable thoughts.

"You can just think about it as we continue with the lesson, ok?" Yamamoto calmly continued oblivious to the fact Gokudera's mind has begun to spiral completely in another direction, "Now you see, you don't need to force it so hard if you prepare it well enough. Just rub it with nice even strokes while you keep a firm grip on it."

The Italian boy just let out a weak squeak as he willed his mind not to go to the place it was careening towards since the taller teen began his instruction. How he kept himself from just pulling out a stick of dynamite and putting himself out of his misery was beyond him, except for a tiny voice that told him he likes the feel of Yamamoto's skin on his and didn't want to do anything that would mean breaking away from the taller boy's gentle grip. He deemed that voice traitorous and would deal with it later when he could think straight again.

Letting go of the sponge, Yamamoto lifted the plate and their arms up out of the water then crab walked them over to where the drying rack was. He picked up a dry towel and walked Gokudera through drying as well, though by then the silver haired youth found it much less troubling if he just didn't listen to what Yamamoto was saying and worked on repeating the steps on making his explosives over and over again in his head. 

Finally the plate, miraculously still intact, was set on the drying rack and the taller teen broke the contact between them as he took a couple steps back. "There you see, one plate washed without even a chip. You think you got it, Gokudera?"

He ignored the mental traitor in his head that was disappointed at the break of contact so he can find his voice again to answer, "Um, sure. I guess I mastered that and won't have to practice washing dishes anymore."

Gokudera took a chance to glance over at Yamamoto finally and couldn't help but be reminded of a puppy at the confused look on his classmate's face that made the oaf kinda look cute. He then began to wonder if Yamamoto's stupid rubbed off of him since there was no way he would ever think the baseball freak could be cute. Even if the look he had on his face now was just begging for someone to pet him or something.

"Are you sure? You should at least try it out by yourself once."

"Nope, completely sure. You've made me an expert dishwasher now."

The usual dopey smile returned to Yamamoto's face and so does Gokudera's mind to a more comfortable zone that did not have conflicting thoughts running through his head. That is until the idiot plunged his thoughts back where he didn't want them to be again by asking, "So do you want to stay for dinner so you can try out a Japanese style bath afterwards?"

Gokudera's face turned bright red and when he couldn't find his voice to speak he just violently shook his head. Not wanting to suffer this embarrassment anymore he dashed off before Yamamoto can say anything else. 

It may be rude to leave without a good-bye, especially since the other boy had agreed to help him out, but the traitorous part of his mind couldn't be trusted. He would just have to apologize in the morning when he was back to being himself again and could put all thoughts of baths and Yamamoto out of his head.


	2. Winning the Losing Battle, part 1

Title: Winning the Losing Battle, Part 1

Characters: Gokudera x Yamamoto, light Gokudera -Tsuna

Word Count: 1,124

Rating: PG

Summary: Sequel to 'Washing Up'. Gokudera figures out his issues about Yamamoto.

Author's Notes: This has just taken a life of it's own and I thought it would be best to split this part up into two as it looks like it'll be well over 2,000 words. Not to mention I'm a slow writer so it will be a while before I finish it all and I don't want to leave people waiting forever for the next update and there is a good stopping point in what I'm expecting to be about midway. But as I'm posting this without the entire thing done this isn't going to be the actual finished version of this part. I probably won't change much at the end but once it's all done I'll go through and it'll get a revision where needed to make sure it's all on track with the still to be written second half.

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Gokudera was never more thankful for showers than he was now. Showers were not baths and had no special customs in Japan that would allow someone to wash your back for you. Especially if that someone was a classmate that was making Gokudera question his feelings for said classmate.

Not that he had any special feelings for the baseball freak, besides wanting to best him to prove he was the better right hand man for the Tenth. The recent string of dreams, which all starred Yamamoto, and the fact he was having trouble getting thoughts about the other boy out of his head was in no way related to any special feelings of any sort. It was probably just some rare disease of stupid he caught from being so close to Yamamoto a few days ago. If he wasn't so scarred from dealing with the man when he was a kid he would ask Dr. Shamal about it. So until then he would just have to live with it and hope it would pass quickly like a kidney stone or something.

That was much easier said then done as he made the mistake of letting his guard down for a moment and the memory of a soft and warm breath on his ear passes through his mind making his heart pound a little faster. He quickly turned the knob of the tap from hot to cold and vanquished all thoughts of that memory, as he had to yet again begin another morning with a freezing shower.

He got through the rest of the process of getting ready for school in a semi-autopilot mode, not really thinking at all in fear of those thoughts sneaking into the out of bounds area of his mind. Overall the tactic was quite successful until not long after he began his trek to school, passing Tsuna's house along the way of course, a familiar friendly voice called out to him.

The Italian youth cursed himself several times over in his mind for forgetting that his way to Tsuna's and school overlapped with Yamamoto's and not readying himself for facing the other teen. While he was doing so the taller boy closed the distance between them and slung an arm around the grey haired youth in his usual friendly way. A sensation akin to a jolt of electricity shot through his body at the touch. He had not shielded himself from the effect that Yamamoto's touch had on him ever since that day so it took awhile for his senses to return and for him to pry himself loose of the taller teen's grasp. "D-don't treat me like we're soulmates or something," Gokudera sputtered, too frazzled to really think about what he was saying. He hurried his pace to put some distance between him and the other boy as he continued his way to school, "I don't like you in that way at all."

Yamamoto looked at the silver teen puzzled for a while as he walked behind the hunched figure. A smile eventually crossed his lips in understanding. He wouldn't let Gokudera know though as he knew the Italian youth needed time to cool down when he got too wound up about something. And he had learned that patience was just as important in life as it was in baseball. So with that thought in mind he followed Gokudera all the way to school in patient silence.

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"Yamamoto, do you know what's wrong with Gokudera?" Tsuna asked his classmate as they put away the soccer balls they had been using for P.E. Gokudera had also promised to help the young mafia boss but when Yamamoto also volunteered to help he took it upon himself to get the ones that had landed on the school shed roof by himself. Tsuna normally wouldn't bother with getting into the personal lives of his friends as the all tended to become strange and part of Reborn's plan to make him into a mafia boss. Yet Gokudera was acting very odd even for him and while the bomb expert could be a bit too much for Tsuna to handle at times he did consider him one of his few friends. "Reborn isn't putting him through any new 'special training', is he?"

The taller teen paused for a moment not sure if he should tell Tsuna about the dish washing training he did with Gokudera a couple of days ago. He then remembered the silver haired youth's threat to never tell Tsuna about it or face painful death. Yamamoto had laughed at how silly it was to want to keep washing dishes a secret. But Gokudera seemed rather sincere in not wanting their friend to know so the baseball player decided to hold his tongue. He just smiled his usual good-natured smile and answered, "Not that I know of."

Tsuna frowned a little before he questioned his friend again, "Would you know if there could be anything else that would make him act strangely? I mean he hasn't seemed to be quite himself these past couple of days."

Yamamoto just laughed in a friendly manner and tried to set his friend's mind at ease. "Isn't it just like Gokudera to be moody like that? I'm sure you're just worrying too much, Tsuna," he reassured the brown haired boy emphasized with a good friendly slap on the back that almost sends the much smaller boy face first into the ground. The taller boy felt a little guilty about lying to his friend. He had noticed Gokudera acting out of sorts and he had an idea that it involved him. He was not certain how but the way the other boy was avoiding him like the plague Yamamoto had to wonder if it was because of his comment about Japanese baths. It was understandable as a foreigner that Gokudera would be shy about communal bathing. And it was just like the Italian born teen to try to mask his discomfort with a brave front, even though he was not very successful at it.

Seeing that Tsuna still looked worried Yamamoto suggested, "If you want I can talk to him just in case I'm missing something."

Tsuna's expression finally changed from worry to relief at those words and he smiled at his friend. "I'd appreciate that. I don't think he'd ever tell me what's wrong. Thanks, Yamamoto."

The dark haired teen just smiled and nodded his head. He did not like it when his friends worried and was glad there was something he could do to help. And if all it was that Gokudera was too shy about public bathing than Yamamoto was sure he could help him out just as well as he did with dish washing.


End file.
